Exposure: Tony Majka captures bankrupt Detroit

When Tony Majka was growing up in the rough neighborhood of Brightmoor, Detroit, he would watch his grandfather develop photographs in his darkroom. Fascinated by photography, Majka went on to study in a bit in college before moving on to other interests.

Majka moved back to Detroit 10 years ago, only to find a ghost town. The collapse of the auto industry and rising crime rates sent residents fleeing to other parts of the country. Homes were abandoned and some neighborhoods were left almost empty.

Astounded by the devastation, Majka started photographing his hometown with his iPhone. After he found Instagram, he realized that he could use mobile photography as a way to raise awareness about what is happening in Detroit.

"Parts of Detroit are beyond repair," Majka told Connect during a phone interview. "There are blocks and blocks of abandoned homes, sometimes 50 in a row, and only one will have someone living in it."

Majka's photos of Detroit reflect the devastation. Huge, victorian homes sit abandoned with vines covering the walls and wood blocking out the windows. Often, furniture and personal items are left in the house, almost as if people just disappeared.

"Literally, these people just got up and left," said Majka. "And they left their stuff. To me, that’s amazing. There’s baby toys, cribs, albums and records. These people left under the cover of darkness."

With unemployment crippling the city's once-vibrant workforce, an underground economy in the form of gangs has emerged. Majka, when entering a new neighborhood, will first introduce himself to the gangs.

"One of the first things that they say to me is 'no big cameras,'" he said.

Equipped with only his iPhone, Majka enters the abandoned houses, taking quick photos of his surroundings, sometimes including the squatters living there.

While Majka has a DSLR, he never takes it with him when he's photographing abandoned houses.

"When you are out there on the street, going into an abandoned house, you can’t sneak a shot with a big, fancy camera," said Majka. "If the people in the area see you like that, you’re bait."

With more than 350,000 Instagram followers, Majka's photos get thousands of likes and hundreds of comments, many of which reflect on the tragedy of Detroit.

"A lot of the times I get people saying ‘you're so negative.' But it's what I see, it's what I do," said Majka. "It’s not like I'm from Florida where I can take photos of sunsets and beaches."

Sometimes, Majka's photos seem to show the glimmer of hope in Detroit. Majka will frame an abandoned house with wildflowers or swingsets. He also has an eye for color, sometimes keeping a scene black and white with a few pops of color, almost to say "see, it's not so bad here."

Majka's commitment to smartphone photography is evident. He loves the ease of smartphone photography compared to the darkroom days of the past and he feels that his iPhone gives him access to places that his DSLR never could.

"That's how you identify a real urban explorer," Majka said. "They don’t use big fancy cameras, they use smartphones."

"Ruin Porn" has been written about and discussed extensively in art photography circles. Check it out. If you have to sneak your photos with an iphone, perhaps you should be questioning the ethics of taking the photos in the first place. Even photographers with "big boy" cameras can work safely in impoverished areas. The difference is that they respect and interact with their subjects.

Detroit wasn't great shakes 28 years ago when I married and left. Remember, there's Detroit proper, then the suburbs. As a former Detroiter I can tell you that Detroiters resent the "burbs" being called Detroit.

The neighborhood I used to live in is so degraded it's not funny. There used to be 34 houses on the street and now there's less than twenty and half are either burned out or boarded up.

It's very easy to use Google Maps to get a look at the street level of Detroit, just make sure you're looking at Detroit and not one of the suburbs, eg., Warren, St. Clair Shores, Roseville, Dearborn, Dearborn Hgts, Southfield, Redford, Royal Oak and Ferndale ARE NOT part of Detroit. These circle the city proper.

This is the worst interview ever. Does this guy actually think that anyone believes that he goes to gang members and asked permission to take pictures of houses? Lol I can just see this white guy doing that than getting slapped in the face. I'm from Detroit I see thousands of people taking pictures with big cameras. This is nothing new or exciting.

This is not because of "decline of auto industry" - more cars are now made in the US than in the 50s when Detroit was the richest (per capita) city in the United States, and by extension, in the world. It is about demographics, quality of city management and balance of power, and applicability of democracy to stupid people.

Wow, did you ever hit the nail on the head! Detroit began declining in every way even before the US auto industry went through hard times. The auto industry is not the reason something like half the adults in Detroit are said to be functionally illiterate. Whether someone likes or dislikes the way the photos were taken, they ought to be enough to wake us up to what is happening to our country.

Tony Detroit's work, aside from the social and emotional content, is a prime example of why the tech of mobile photography has helped the world see images we otherwise wouldn't see. Those of us in the mobile community have known for years that the smartphone has forever changed street photography - Tony's work shows that citizen journalism can often rise to the level of profound social and historical importance. Nice work Tony.

Finally, a concrete case where mobile photography is a tool without which the actual images wouldn't exist, offsetting the general trend where engaging photographs are so IN SPITE of having been taken with a mobile phone.

This is beautiful, heart-touching and bit unnerving, if seen as the crossroad point for possible universal things to come.

(...The attentive average "Connect" writer might have noticed that are NO images of coffee shops open in those areas...)